Why is Windows 8 a Flop?

Although I’m now primarily a Mac user at home, that had nothing to do with a dislike for Windows. In fact, I loved Windows 7. Shortly after its release, I installed it on both of my personal machines, and I was one of the early adopters at the office. In years past, I would have been eager to install Windows 8 on my remaining Windows machine and on my Windows 7 partition on my Mac, given my affliction with G.A.S. (Gear Acquisition Syndrome). I haven’t felt that urge for Windows 8, and it appears that most other users have felt the same way. Based on some recent data, it seems that Windows 8 is a flop. Why?

In the month of February, according to Net Applications, Windows 8 gained 0.4% of the desktop market, moving from 2.26 to 2.67%. In comparison, Windows 7 had a market share of over 9% after four months of public availability. A growth rate of 0.4% is absolutely horrendous, and — if we assume that PCs are replaced every five years — actually below the natural attrition/replacement rate. If growth of 0.4% wasn’t bad enough, it’s also worth pointing out that it’s down from 0.5% in January — yes, Windows 8 adoption is slowing down. Windows 7, after a small dip last month, actually gained market share in February.

I’m not a sales analyst, and I don’t use Windows 8, so I’m not going to pretend to have a clue as to the reasons for the slow adoption. My guesses are just that – guesses based upon various reviews. Based on those reviews, I can speak to my own reasons for not feeling the need to kick the tires on Windows 8. Here’s my take:

1. People don’t like too much change. By all reports, Windows 8 is a drastic change from any prior version of Windows. Whether Microsoft is ahead of the times, or just missed the ball entirely, Windows 8 was too much of a move.

2. Mobile and Desktop should be two different experiences. Unlike Microsoft, I’m not sold on the idea that the mobile experience and desktop experience are interchangeable. I cringe whenever I hear that Mac’s OS X will gradually become more like iOS. The two experiences are different, and require different user interfaces.

3. Mobile is killing off the desktop. I’ve heard it and you’ve heard it. Mobile is on the rise, and the desktop is dying. Not good for a company whose bread and butter is the desktop.

4. Too expensive. After spending $20 for the latest OS X upgrade, I have a hard justifying spending 5 times that amount on a product with mixed reviews.

4. Bad marketing. I haven’t tried Windows 8, so points 1 through 3 could just be based on bad press. Am I off base, and Microsoft has just done a bad job at marketing Windows 8? Should I bite the bullet and purchase Windows 8?

I’m willing to admit that my opinion is uninformed, and I’m giving an opinion from the outside looking in, since I haven’t tried Windows 8. If you have tried Windows 8, let me know if I’ve completely missed the boat.

John B says:

I happen to agree that Windows 8 may be too great a leap from Win7. Until now each iteration of the GUI has been an evolution built on its predecessors. Win8 looks like (I am also not informed through use of the new version) an abandonment of the past that risks leaving many users by the wayside. I was happy to be an early adopter of Win 7, but Win 8 may just be the straw on the proverbial camel’s back. Mac and Chrome are looking better all the time.

I like Windows 8. I admit though, I had nearly a year of use in the pre-release to get used to it. At first, when I tried it, I was put off and a little weirded out by the colour scheme and the boxes and the drag up to get past the lock screen — I wasn’t using a touch interface, after all. Once I got used to it, however, I found I really enjoyed it.

It’s on the machine my 4yr old uses a lot, and she really likes it as well. Very easy for her to get to what she wants, ans she thinks it’s pretty. :)

I think you pretty much summed it up in the first point: “People don’t like too much change.” When people see the ads demoing Windows 8, they compare it to their experience with 7 or Vista, etc, and conclude “that ain’t Windows!”

Interestingly though, I hear a lot of people who felt the same way but when they made a full transition to the new OS, they found that it was actually quite nice.

So, it could ultimately come down to a marketing challenge for Microsoft.

Windows 8 is more different from the previous windows, as it supposed not to be like that different in GUI. Everything needs time to settle. I think the new window need much of our time to get use to it and start enjoying while using it. I used once and than came back to windows7. I dont have much time to learn operating systems. why not giving time to my own designing projects :).

I really wish it were cheaper. If so, I’d give it a try. It’s a secondary OS for me, though, so I can’t really justify dropping that kind of money. The price really isn’t competitive in a world of upgrades that are cheap (OS X) or free (Linux).

Tom says:

I’m a power user and use 2 monster monitors. The whole idea of getting lots of screen real estate was to be able to have several resizable windows open and visible simultaneously.

The new Windows 8 apps that will only operate full-screen (or that weird feature where you can create 4 sub-fullscreens) would make it impossible to use my machine for what I want it to do. In fact, on the largest monitor, full screen just looks ridiculous, you can’t even look at the whole window and follow your workflow.

Microsoft’s endgame seems to be to get the PC user integrated into the smartphone/tablet closed world of “apps,” which must be bought only from the company controlling a closed “app store” ecosystem (MS probably has iTunes envy :)

People who want to be productive, though, they don’t count.

They’re not usefull mass-market sheep for the suits at MS who are panicking because they missed the captive app store train when it was leaving the station.

I wasn’t aware of the problem with full-screen apps. Macs have a similar issue, as you can only have one fullscreen app open at a time. You can expand more than one app to fill a screen, but can’t go into official full-screen mode with more than one app at a time.

Hey Ev – just discovered your blog – love it. Recently bought some new hardware for the biz this year, so can give my two cents. I thought Windows 8 would be a disaster, and hated the idea of a touch screen for business purposes. I need the ability to use a mouse for precision point-and-click – constantly updating spreadsheets all day and what-not. Started using Windows 7 earlier this year, thought it was a huge upgrade from my old XP environments (skipped Vista and all generations in between). Then purchased a Windows 8 preloaded Dell laptop with touch screen, and then a Windows 8 Dell without touch screen. Did NOT want Windows 8. But after a few weeks, behold, I actually LOVE Windows 8! I have learned just enough tricks to get around, and must say that I find myself using a combination of touch screen gestures on my laptop along with the mouse, for my Windows 8 touchscreen laptop. For my Windows 8 laptop without touch screen, it actually took a little longer but now that I figured out how to use the swipe gestures the right way, it really is quite easy to navigate and most importantly, I feel it increases my productivity. I am most concerned with 1) stability of system (no crashes) and 2) ease of use leading to better productivity. I can say that Windows 8 makes me very happy on BOTH accounts, whether I’m using a touch screen laptop or non-touch screen machine. I am quite amazed that I feel this way, as I have been a hater of Windows for many decades. But as I am Mac-adverse and need Windows office products for biz, I am forced to constantly use Microsoft products. Ultimately, I’m so happy with Windows 8 that I recently purchased a Microsoft Surface Pro laptop/tablet, and I can tell you in a different post how much I am thrilled so far with this purchase.